TAIEX dips on Greek woes
The TAIEX edged down yesterday, as investors unnerved by the political uncertainty in Greece stayed on the sidelines, causing trading volume to fall to its lowest level in three years.
The benchmark index closed down 24.19 points, or 0.33 percent, at 7,377.18, after moving between 7,412.59 and 7,346.86.
Turnover totaled NT$46.76 billion (US$1.59 billion), the lowest single-day volume since Jan. 20, 2009, when it hit NT$46.31 billion.
Most of the market’s eight major stock categories closed down, but food and textile shares both gained 0.2 percent.
The plastics and chemical sector was the biggest loser, falling 1 percent.
A total of 1,040 stocks closed up, 2,683 finished down and 435 were unchanged.
Second iPad shipment coming
A second shipment of Apple Inc’s new iPad is scheduled to arrive in the country later this week, following the immediate sellout of the first batch at the end of last week, according to authorized local retailers.
The first shipment sold out within just four hours of going on sale on Friday last week, said Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co (燦坤實業), one of the channels authorized to sell the new device, adding that it was already taking pre-orders for the new shipment through its 46 outlets nationwide.
Analysts estimated that sales on Friday alone brought CyberMart (賽博數碼), another major retail outlet, about NT$10 million (US$339,020) in revenue.
Noting that Apple knows how to create market hype for its new product launches, CyberMart said that sales of the second shipment would be key to determining actual market demand.
Both Tsann Kuen and CyberMart did not disclose total sales amount.
Notebook shipments rising fast
Worldwide notebook computer shipments from top-tier Taiwanese manufacturers will expand at a faster pace than the seasonal average in the second quarter, despite delays in receiving Intel Corp’s new processors, analysts at Barclays Capital said recently.
In a research noted dated Friday, the British investment bank projected that global notebook shipments from the top five contract laptop manufacturers would grow 9 percent sequentially in the current quarter to 41.25 million units — faster than the normal seasonal increase of 6 percent.
For this month alone, Barclays expects notebook shipments to increase 16 percent from the 12.1 million units recorded last month, compared with the five-year average of a 1 percent decrease, the note said.
Bond yields fall to two-year low
Taiwanese government bonds gained, sending benchmark five-year yields to a two-month low, as concern Greece would exit the euro spurred investor demand for the safest assets.
The yield on the government’s 1 percent bonds due January 2017 fell 2 basis points to 0.961 percent, the lowest level since March 13, according to GRETAI Securities Market.
The overnight interbank lending rate was little changed at 0.509 percent, according to a weighted average compiled by the Taiwan Interbank Money Center. It reached 0.514 percent on Friday, the highest level since 2008.
NT dollar retreats
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.092 to close at NT$29.502.
One-month implied volatility, a measure of exchange-rate swings traders use to price options, rose 22 basis points to 4.52 percent.
Turnover totaled US$1.01 billion yesterday.
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